The Fourth Amendment

By: Anthony Ha

The Fourth Amendment

By: Anthony Ha

In the constitution the Fourth Amendment states...

The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.

What was the information behind the Fourth Amendment?

In the 1300s, The British king allowed his general warrants the right to search through any homes they wanted, seize anything they saw that fitted, and even arrest someone based on what they saw. In 1761 Merchants in Boston, Massachusetts stop warrants from being granted the right to search homes. In 1761, attorney James Otiz argued that that Boston needed fairer process of issuing warrants, After the trial, angry crowds often interfered with customs and revenue agents attempting to enforce general warrants. Later on, James Madison wrote the fourth amendment using Otiz's ideas to form the fourth amendment of the Bill of Rights on December 15, 1791.

What does the Fourth Amendment mean in modern times?

The Fourth Amendment simply just means that this Amendment protects the right of a person against unreasonable searches of homes, papers, and effects. It also says no warrant has the affiliation to search through homes or issue a search.

Ex parte Burford (1806)

In 1806, the Supreme Court heard it's fast case of the Fourth Amendment by John A. Burford, A Virginia Merchant, whose temper and behavior were so bad that his neighbors complained to several justices of the peace that they were worried he might commit a crime. saying if he had commit a crime he would lose the court order and he was required to pay $4,000. Burford could not pay the fine of $4,000 and was sent to jail, but when the Supreme Court heard the case, he was released from jail. Chief Justice John Marshall stated that the warrant used to arrest Burford did not comply with any of the Fourth Amendment’s requirements, because it was based solely on testimony that Burford might commit a crime. 5 years later in Locke, Virginia the Court clearly defined probable cause as “a reasonable ground for belief of guilt” regarding a crime. Without such ground for belief, the court ruled, a warrant was not valid.